Recent Photos of Bedford AFS, VA
Main Site, Looking North
Radar Site - 2010 image looking South
Radar Site - 2010 image looking South
Radar Site, Looking South
Cantonment Area, Looking South
Housing Annex, Looking North
Housing Annex, Looking South
showimage.php?name=..//recent/BedfordAFSVA_Recent_colorful.jpg" width="600" height="450" >
Photo source: http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=37028 (2002)
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Photo source: http://picasaweb.google.com/ellisbjohns/BlueRidge08b/photo#5221448382508172802
sources:
http://www.backpacker.com/cgi-bin/forums/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=682107219;t=9991103394 /
http://maryland.sierraclub.org/hc/pictures/2008/04/20080419-jnf03.jpg
The hikers are standing about where the Air Force LRR Operations building used to stand. The view is roughly due east.
Photo source: http://purebound.com/AT/virginia_central/virginia_central.htm
The view appears to be to the east-northeast. The Appalachian Trail (AT) is seen in the foreground. The parent website lists "22-Mar-2006" for this image.
Photo source: http://www.extremeultrarunning.com/atpfr.htm
From the web site http://community.webshots.com/album/53346305zqEgvS
From the web site http://www.oc.edu/staff/phil.heffington/FAARadar.jpg
From http://www.jmclum.com/spring2001/text/050301.htm
From http://fuse.pha.jhu.edu/~danforth/graphics/jamesriverface.jpg
Radar station not visible in the distance.
At the main page (http://fuse.pha.jhu.edu/~danforth/wj/at_spring01.html) is this entry:
"... For a while now, I've been approaching this giant golf ball perched on top of Apple Orchard Mountain, the height of land on this section of trail. If this actually was a golf ball, to scale a par 3 course might put the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC, as the hole. Big sucker and pretty impressive! Turns out it's an FAA radar antenna and the last remaining evidence of a USAF base that was on the mountain a few decades back. As advertised, there were also a number of apple trees which did little to provide shade. ...."
Photos taken in 1986 and 1998 by Tom Page
This a view of the FAA's ARSR-3 radar tower (with new radome) atop Apple Orchard Mountain, formerly the location of Bedford AFS, VA (Z-121). The NPS has restored the site to its natural condition, removing all Air Force structures not belonging to the FAA. View is from the Blue Ridge Parkway, looking roughly due south (see map posted on web site). [Compare to the 1986 photo, when the old Air Force LRR Operations building and the AN/FPS-67 search-radar tower were still there then.]
This is the access road that leads from the Blue Ridge Parkway to the top of the mountain. The view is to the east-northeast, toward where part of the cantonment area once was. The ridge to the far left (distance) is where I believe the GATR site used to be (?). As you can see, the NPS has done an excellent job restoring the land. [In 1986, several buildings still stood here and alongside the access road.]
This is the top of the mountain, looking east toward the FAA's ARSR-3 radar tower and support buildings. This photo was taken approximately from the location of the former LRR Operations building. The AN/FPS-67 search-radar tower stood roughly where the green building now stands, though no traces of it remain. Likewise, there were no remaining traces of the two former AN/FPS-6 height-finder radar towers (both of which I believe were on temperate towers).
Another view of the FAA's ARSR-3 radar tower (with new radome). This view is looking roughly west-northwest.
Appalachian Trail sign at the top of Apple Orchard Mountain, about where the former LRR Operations building used to sit. When the Air Force station was in use, the Appalachian Trail detoured around the site on the north side. Now, the Appalachian Trail crosses the top of the mountain (as well as the next ridge to the north, where the GATR site might have been {?}).
This is the view looking northwest from the top of Apple Orchard Mountain and the Appalachian Trail. Again, this is roughly the spot where the former LRR Operations building used to sit.
Another view of the FAA's ARSR-3 radar tower from the Blue Ridge Parkway, from the other side, looking roughly north-northeast.
The former Bedford AFS's family housing area, about 15 miles from the main site, alongside VA Rte 43, "Peak Road" (see map posted on the web site). All units appeared to be occupied today.
The following three photos were takin in 1986
